Boys H.S. Soccer: New Bedford pours it on in win at Voc-Tech

NEW BEDFORD — Like the rain storm that hit GNB Voc-Tech's Riley Stadium right before the opening kickoff, the Whalers came in waves in a 3-0 victory over the Bears on Saturday night.

RYAN TREPANIER

NEW BEDFORD — Like the rain storm that hit GNB Voc-Tech's Riley Stadium right before the opening kickoff, the Whalers came in waves in a 3-0 victory over the Bears on Saturday night.

"I think obviously we were the better team on the field," New Bedford coach John Macaroco said. "Right now we're in a good rhythm. The kids are really believing that we can't lose, and if we are losing we have a good enough team that we can make comebacks. We're playing with confidence."

Victor Ferreira scored two first-half goals off throw-ins, and Anthony DosSantos put the game away for New Bedford (13-0-4) early in the second half. The Whalers defense held the Bears (14-3-1) without a shot on goal for the first half, and didn't allow the Bears a good chance to score until long after New Bedford's first unit had left the field.

"I knew today that we needed to play strong in the back and not give them any easy goals," Macaroco said. "We needed to take their team and their fans out of the game early. We were fortunate to get that goal early on and pretty much control the game after that."

Ferreira opened the scoring on Alex Machado's second-minute throw in. The ball bounced across the goal mouth to Ferreira, who half-volleyed it home.

"We weren't focused right from the beginning," Voc-Tech coach Henry Andrade said. "I tell them all the time, 'you've got to mark up,' and they leave Victor alone — the kid that we tell them they have to watch out for all week."

New Bedford's Kyle Duarte limped off in the 30th minute after being clipped on a tackle, and on the ensuing throw-in the Whalers went right to goal, with Ferreira taking the pass from Nathan Oliveira and beating Voc-Tech goalkeeper Mark Custodio with a shot just inside the near post.

"He's such an intelligent player at a young age," Macaroco said. "He sees the whole field, he sees the game and how it's flowing and who's going to be open and who's not. He's finding the right people at the right time. You can't say enough. Not only is he scoring goals, his giving it up. He's an all-around team player."

Mory Camara finally put a shot on for the Bears in the 44th minute, but his soft header off a free kick was easily handled by Whalers goalkeeper Jason Miranda for his only save of the match. Dave Pacheco came on for Miranda in the 63rd minute and made two saves to finish off the clean sheet.

The Bears also swapped goalkeepers, with Nevin Lame spelling Custodio in the 49th minute. Lame he finished with two saves to Custodio's six. Both teams substituted liberally in the games' final twenty minutes, getting their reserves some time with the result already determined.

"It was great today to get everybody some playing time today, especially the seniors," Macaroco said.

Anthony DosSantos finished off the Bears in the 46th minute. The midfielder got a foot on Adam Viera's cross, and it slid under Custodio and off the post, and DosSantos tapped it home on the second effort.

"We have a good chemistry now, we have a good rotation with kids going in and out," Macaroco said. "Everyone knows their roles, and that's great to have."

The Whalers are one win away from an undefeated regular season. They will travel to Somerset on Monday.

"I wish Henry and his team the best of luck in the tournament," Macaroco said. "Hopefully we don't have to face them. They had a bad game today, but they're a much better team than what they played."

The Bears were forced to forfeit a win at Seekonk earlier in the season because of a red card on an assistant coach. They'll try to get that 'W' back at Taunton on Monday, then host Shasheen Valley in the vocational tournament the following day.

"They were a much better team today," Andrade said. "I'm not saying they're a lot better than us, but today they deserved to win. There's no question about it."